John II
John 9-18
The Rejection of Christ
9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
The Acceptance of Christ
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Incarnation of Christ
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”
16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declare
1. Life is a key theme in John’s Gospel; it is used thirty-six times. What are the essentials for human life? There are at least four: light (if the sun went out, everything would die), air, water, and food. Jesus is all of these! He is the Light of life and the Light of the world.
John 8:12
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.
2. He is the “Sun of righteousness” (Mal. 4:2).
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3. By His Holy Spirit, He gives us the “breath of life” (John 20:22),
22And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
4. as well as the Water of life (John 4:10, 13–14; 7:37–39).
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying,“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
5. Finally, Jesus is the Living Bread of Life that came down from heaven. John 6:35.
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
He not only has life and gives life, but He is life
John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Light and darkness are recurring themes in John’s Gospel. God is light
(1 John 1:5)
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
While Satan is “the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53). People love either the light or the darkness, and this love controls their actions (John 3:16–19). Those who believe on Christ are the “sons of light” (John 12:35–36). Just as the first Creation began with “Let there be light!” so the New Creation begins with the entrance of light into the heart of the believer (2 Cor. 4:3–6). The coming of Jesus Christ into the world was the dawning of a new day for sinful man (Luke 1:78–79).
You would think that blind sinners would welcome the light, but this is not always the case. The coming of the true light brought test, trails and temptations as the powers of darkness opposed it. A literal translation of John 1:5 reads, “And the light keeps on shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it or understood it.” The Greek verb can mean “to overcome” or “to grasp, to understand.” Throughout the Gospel of John, you will see both attitudes revealed: people will not understand what the Lord is saying and doing and, as a result, they will oppose Him. Later in John 7–12 we will read the growth of that opposition, which ultimately led to the crucifixion of Christ.
Whenever Jesus taught a spiritual truth, His listeners interpreted it in a material or physical way not in a spiritual way. The light was unable to penetrate the darkness in their minds. This was true when He spoke about the temple of His body
(John 2:19–21),
19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”
21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
The new birth (John 3:4), the living water (John 4:11), eating His flesh (John 6:51), spiritual freedom (John 8:30–36), death as sleep (John 11:11–13), and many other spiritual truths. Satan strives to keep people in the darkness, because darkness means death and hell, while light means life, heaven, salvation and freedom.
This fact helps explain the ministry of John the Baptist (John 1:6–8). John was sent as a witness to Jesus Christ, to tell people that the Light had come into the world. To open peoples’ minds of what was about to happen. The nation of Israel, in spite of all its spiritual advantages, was blind to their own Messiah! The word witness is a key word in this book; John uses the noun fourteen times and the verb thirty-three times. John the Baptist was one of many people who bore witness to Jesus, “This is the Son of God!” Alas, John the Baptist was martyred and the Jewish leaders did nothing to prevent it.
Why did the nation reject Jesus Christ? Because the “knew Him not.” They were spiritually ignorant. Jesus is the “true Light”—the original of which every other light is a copy—but the Jews were content with the copies. They had Moses and the Law, the temple and the sacrifices; but they did not comprehend that these “lights” pointed to the true Light who was the fulfillment, the completion, of the Old Testament religion prophecy. Can you see what this is saying to us today, are we so different from Israel over 2,000 years ago.
As you study John’s Gospel, you will find Jesus teaching the people that He is the fulfillment of all that was spoken in the Law. It was not enough to be born a Jew; they had to be born again, born from above (John 3). He deliberately performed two miracles on the Sabbath to teach them that He had a new rest to give them (John 5; 9). He was the bread of life and the life-giving Water. He is the Shepherd of a new flock and He is a new Vine. But the people were so shackled by religious tradition that they could not understand spiritual truth. Jesus came to His own world that He had created, but His own people, Israel, could not understand Him and would not receive Him.
They saw His works and heard His words. They observed His perfect life. He gave them every opportunity to grasp the truth, believe, and be saved. Jesus is the way, but they would not walk with Him,
He is the truth, but they would not believe Him,
He is the life, and they crucified Him!
But sinners today need not commit those same blunders.
John 1:12–13
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John gives us the marvelous promise of God that anyone who receives Christ will be born again and enters the family of God! John says more about this new birth in John 3, but he points out here that it is a spiritual birth from God, not a physical birth that depends on human nature.
The Light is still shining! Have you personally received the Light and become a child of God?
Church that’s what the bible is all about. Showing us, how to find the light. We need to be a church of principles, a church of convictions and stand on those principles and convictions. If you know someone that in darkness I urge you, I challenge today, to start praying for this people. If you are in the darkness, and want to bring the Light of Life into your heart. You come up right now as the music play, you come today.